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Asteroid Near-Earth

2010 HW20

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(2010 HW20)

2010 HW20 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.96 AU to 1.06 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 371.4 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.058 AU
True anomaly
201.63°
Distance from Earth
1.571 AU
As of
3 November 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Sun Earth — 0.992 AU from the Sun Earth 2010 HW20 — 1.058 AU from the Sun 2010 HW20
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. 2010 HW20 is 1.571 AU from Earth today (13.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 27m 25s
Declination
-28° 41′ 09″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
1.57 AU
Elongation from the Sun
41.51° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
1.011 AU
Eccentricity
0.05
Inclination
8.18°
Orbital period
371.4 days
Perihelion
0.961 AU
Aphelion
1.062 AU
Longitude of ascending node
39.19°
Argument of periapsis
60.44°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 3.3 LD
0.0085 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
6.018

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
29
Data arc
14 days
First observed
25 April 2010
Last observed
9 May 2010
Residual RMS
0.42 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
26.1

Discovery & classification

Apollo Near-Earth Object

Close approaches 33 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of 2010 HW20 at 2066-10-02 18:58 UTC Sun 156.6 LD · 6.02 × 10⁷ km 2066-10-02 18:58 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2066-10-02 18:58 UTC close approach of 2010 HW20. Catalogue miss distance 156.6 LD · 6.02 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2066-09-29 to 2066-10-05, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2066-10-02 18:58:00 Earth 0.4024 AU 156.6 LD 13.5 km/s
2067-10-10 06:18:00 Earth 0.3014 AU 117.3 LD 10.7 km/s
2068-10-16 02:48:00 Earth 0.2019 AU 78.6 LD 8.1 km/s
2069-10-23 07:13:00 Earth 0.1066 AU 41.5 LD 5.9 km/s
2070-10-30 04:55:00 Earth 0.0233 AU 9.1 LD 4.6 km/s
2071-05-08 06:21:00 Earth 0.1064 AU 41.4 LD 4.7 km/s
2071-11-03 11:34:00 Earth 0.0277 AU 10.8 LD 4.4 km/s
2072-05-01 17:54:00 Earth 0.055 AU 21.4 LD 4.3 km/s
2072-11-10 00:12:00 Earth 0.0858 AU 33.4 LD 4.7 km/s
2073-04-26 06:35:00 Earth 0.0246 AU 9.6 LD 4.4 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources